Daily Market Update – August 31, 2016 (Close)

Yesterday was a return to the recent kind of normal we had come to expect.

Stocks traded in a very narrow range all through the day as most eyes were now looking toward Friday morning.

That’s when the Employment Situation report is released and we may get a better idea of when the FOMC may be increasing interest rates.

The Boston and Chicago Federal Reserve Presidents spoke in China yesterday and both seemed to believe that an interest rate hike was near, but they had very differing views of the economy.

The Chicago Federal Reserve President said that he believed there was evidence of the US economy slowing down, but that there would be an interest rate hike, anyway.

The Boston Federal Reserve Federal Reserve President believed that the economy was strengthening and meeting the FOMC’s targets.

So, the question is whether its September or December.

What is forgotten is that a number of months ago the FOMC said that it wasn’t tied by any particular scheduled meeting to make such an announcement.

Still, the next question is how the market would react to September, December or anything in between.

Friday may give some clue.

With a new position opened yesterday, I didn’t expect to be doing very much else for the rest of the week, so today wasn’t a disappointment in that regard.

It was a disappointment, though, in not being able to capitalize on the sale of any calls on uncovered positions, as I still had my eyes on a few possibilities, but today’s weakness didn’t help.

Today was weak, but for no real reason other than oil continued weak and that there is still that big overhang on Friday.

With no expiring positions it continues to be a good time to be on the beach or relaxing somewhere until summer is officially over and maybe the market finds some reason to respond to something and kick up its volatility just a little.

For now, it’s hard to imagine how it could ever get any lower, but there hasn’t been very much to excite markets or traders.